This appropriation funds the office of fire safety. The Office’s
responsibilities include inspections on new construction, reviews of
architectural drawings, and fire-safety inspections for schools, prisons and
foster care. It also provides certification programs for fire inspection and
quality standards.

Recommended Action:

Fire-safety inspection should
be outsourced to private, for-profit inspectors. Outsourcing inspections to
one or more firms could reduce the cost of providing such a service by at least
20 percent. Approximate savings from outsourcing office of fire safety duties
could exceed $900,000. In 1997 the Mackinac Center for Public Policy profiled
one private fire safety inspector in the spring edition of Michigan
Privatization Report. Jim Schifiliti of Fire Safety Consultants Inc. has worked
under contract with the state of Illinois and 60 municipalities, inspecting such
“critical care” units as mental health facilities and public schools.
Savings: $961,660.